Rising international demand has prompted two of New Zealand’s leading apple exporters to open a new state of the art coolstore.
Bostock New Zealand and Mr Apple will share the 8,600m2facility, located near Flaxmere in Hawke’s Bay.
“The apple industry is growing to meet international demand and every day we are working to ensure we have cutting edge technology to deliver premium apples to our customers,” said Bostock New Zealand owner, John Bostock.
The new coolstore has the capacity to store 30,000 bins, while a market leading scanning system will ensure each apple can be traced back to the orchard where it was grown.
Thursday’s official opening marks the first phase of a two-stage development, which will see another coolstore built, boosting storage capacity by a further 13,000 bins.
“It’s taken months of planning and project management and we take our hats off to Gordon Kinnear and his team for the wonderful job they’ve done to ensure the coolstore was completed in a short timeframe and in time for the busy apple harvest,” Bostock added.
Mr Apple chief executive, Andrew Van Workum, said the companies’ willingness to collaborate would help enhance Hawke’s Bay’s reputation as one of the world’s premium apple producing regions.
“Both companies, and the New Zealand industry in general are establishing very strong sales and linkages into particularly the Asian market,” Van Workum explained.
“It’s a market that has a very clear focus on fruit quality, the appearance and the eating experience of the apple and they are prepared to pay a good price for very good quality apples. This sort of infrastructure is essential in locking in that quality that we’ve spent all year growing.”
Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule opened the new facility alongside staff from Bostock New Zealand, Mr Apple and many of the region’s apple growers.
“This new coolstore development is going to help grow our economy and must be applauded,” Yule said. “It shows innovation and success that we are proud to be part of.”
